One Real American: The Life of Ely S. Parker, Seneca Sachem and Civil War General

"Ely S. Parker (1828-1895) is [a] unique but little-known [figure] in US history. A member of the Seneca, an Iroquois nation, Parker was an attorney, engineer, and tribal diplomat. Raised on a reservation but schooled at a Catholic institution, he learned English at a young age and became an interpreter for his people. During the American Civil War, he was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel and was the primary draftsman of the terms of the Confederate surrender at Appomattox. He eventually became President Grant's Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the first Native American to hold that post"--